Framing mechanism for moving-picture machines



I. F. UHLEMANN.

FRAMING MECHANISM FOR MOVING PICTURE MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 29. 1918.

1,351,814. PatentdSept. 7,1920.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THEODORE IE. UHLEMANN, OF NEW YORK, Y., ASSIGNOR T NICHOLAS POWERGOMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A. CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

FRAMING MECHANISM FOR MOVING-PICTURE MACHINES.

Application filed November 29, 1918.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, THEODORE F. UHLE- MANN, acitizen. of the United States, and a resident of the city, county, andState of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in FramingMechanism for Moving-Picture Machines, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to improvements in framing mechanisms for movingpicture ma chines in which the intermittent sprocket is bodily shiftedwith relation to the projection aperture to correspondingly adjust thefilm to bring its individual pictures into registration with theaperture.

More particularly the present invention comprises an improvement overthe framing mechanism shown and described in Letters Patent Nos. 826,112and 1,184,126, granted to Nicholas Power on July 17, 1906,

and May 23, 1916, respectively.

In each of these patents the intermittent sprocket and its immediatedriving shaft are supported on an mounted in the machine frame forvertical adjustment immediately beneath the aperture, and in each casethe driving shaft of the intermittent gear is actuated from a shaft onthe machine frame having stationary bearings through an intermediategear so mounted on almovable support asto be maintained in mesh with thegear of the stationary main shaft and the gear on the verticallyadjustable carriage.

As framing devices, the structure of these patents has provensatisfactory and has been very largely used in commercial machines.

. tion that the adjustment of the carriage causes a rotation of thesprocket driving gear about its own axis which alters the time ofoperation of the sprocket with relation to Specification of LettersPatent.

independent carriage Patented Sept. a, 1920.

Serial No. 264,686.

the other moving parts of the projection machine.

In the framing mechanism shown in the l atent No. 1,184,126 theintermediate gear 18 independently supported in a supplemental carriagewhich is adjusted simultaneously with the framing carriage but to a lessextent, to thereby avoid the rotative movement of the sprocket. Inthis'structure, however, the movement of the intermediate gear is notconcentric with the two gears which it connects, and therefore the teethare moved more or less into and out of mesh with each other withconsequent wear and lost motion.

In carrying out the present invention I provide anlinte'rmediate geararrangement in which all the gears are maintained in proper meshingrelation, but in which they are so relatively shifted in the framingmovement as to maintain the driving shaft of the intermittent gearagainst rotation, so that the synchronous operation of the intermittentsprocket and'the other elements of the film feed is not disturbed.

In the accompanying drawings I have I illustrated my invention asapplied 'to a moving picture machine of the type shown in the patent toNicholas Power, No.

1,184,126 referred to above, and have illustrated only so much of themoving picture machine structure as is necessary to an understanding ofthe framing mechanism.

In the'saiol drawings,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a moving picture machine equipped withmy improved framing mechanism with certain parts shown in section;

M Fig. 2 is a similar view of a portion of Fig. 1 showing a differentadjustment of the framing mechanism; and

Fig. 3 is a similar view of a modification.

Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates the frame of the machine which issupported in the usual manner, the upper and lower sprockets 2 and 8,respectively, of which are continuously rotated from the main drivingshaft 4 to feed the film into and out of the machine.

The film, which is indicated at 5, is intermittently fed pasttheprojection aperture 6 where it is exposed for projection in the usualmanner by an intermittent sprocket 7 whose shaft bearings are supportedin the vertically'adj ustable framing carriage 8, all of which parts maybe identical with those disclosed in the above mentioned patenttoNicholas Power.

The sprocket 7 is intermittently operated by an intermittent couple, notshown, but which may be of any approved design, for instance thatdisclosed in the above men. tioned patent, from a driving shaft 9'alsomounted in the carriage-8. continuously driven from a main gear 10supported on the machine frame and operated by suitable gearing fromthe. main shaft 4:. The shaft of the gear 10 isstationarily supported,while the shaft "9. is mounted for vertical adjustment in a right line,and the intermediate gearing for effect ing the continuous rotation ofthe shaft 9 from the gear. 10 constitutes the novel feature of myinvention. This intermediate gearing comprises a gear 11 meshing withthe gear 10 and supported at the end of a link or swinging bracket arm12 having its bearing on the shaft of .the gear 10 so that the teethvofthe gear 11. will be at all times maintained in the gear 10. he gear11 drives a similar gear 13 whose shaft is carried at the end of a link.14: supported at one end -upon the shaft'of the gear 11 and at theother end bya third link 15 swung from the shaft-9,

the links 12, 14: and 15 forming an articulated connection between theshaft 9 and the shaft of the gear 10. This connection allows the gearsll-and 13 to assume various relative positions but maintains their teethin he shaft 9 is proper mesh with the teeth of Fig. 1 to constant meshwith'eachother and also maintains the gear 11 in mesh with gear 10 andgear 13 with the driving pinion 16 on-tthe end of the shaft 9, so thatthe rotative movement of the gear 10 will be transmitted withoutinterruption to the pinion 16, regardless of the movement of thecarriage 8.

The mechanism so far described, while suflicient to maintain the drivingconnection during the framing adjustment, may cause an independentrotative movement of the shaft 9 due to the turnifig of the gears 11and. 13 on their axeswhen the framing carriage is shifted.v Topreventthis T ro- I \vide means for "regulating the exten ofmovement ofthe axesof the gears Hand 13 so that the rotative' movement of the shaft9 which would be produced by therotation of one of the intermediatepinions about the axis of the gear which drives it will be com pensatedfor by an opposite. movement of the other intermediate gear about theaxis of its driving' ear.

As shown in igs. 1 and 2, this v sists of a-guide" bracket '18 attachedto the side ofthe machine frame adjacent the path means conof travel ofthe-- framing carriage, the

ferred construction, but instead of using a bracket having a cam slot 19which embraces the other naeneie the end of the shaft on which the gear13 is mounted, thereby causing'the shaft of the 'gear to shifttransversely as well as verti- "cally when the carriage'is adjusted. The

about their. axes to compensate for each other and also for the movementof the gear 13 about the axis of the pinion 16.

It is of course to be understood that the accompanying drawing is notdrawn to scale, although the cam shown is a close approximation of thatrequired in actual practice.

It will also be understood that the threelink ebnnection between theshaft 9 and the o stationary dIlVHlg shaft constltutes a connectionwhich may be described as of universal flexibility as distinguished fromthe two-link connection shown in the Power Patent No. 826,112, that is,inadjusting the shaft 9 the several links would notneoessarily have thesame relative movement for each adjustment (except for the cam'slot 19)but either joint might take all the movement, or the total movement maybe divided in any proportion betweenthetwo joints;

according to which presents the greatest friction. If, for instance,allthe movement took place at the axis ing carriage from the ositionshown 'in' that shown in ig. 2, in a counterclockwise direction, whichmovement would produce an equal clockwise movement of the gear 13, whichwould be transmitted to the pinion 16 and interfere with the synchronousoperation of the film feed and shutter. On hand, all the movement mighttake place at the axis of the inion 13, the-pinion 11:then serving toall intents and purposes as a stationary gear.

In this case theframing movement from i the position shown in Fig. l tothat shown in Fig. 2 will cause a rotation of the pinion'13 about itsown axis in a counter-clockwise direction, thereby destro ing thesynchronism of the parts by a'retarding instead of an advancing,movement. to the pinion 16.

ment of the floating gear 13 is so controlled as to cause a portion ofthe movement to take the gear 13 about the axis ofthepinion 16, a andthe pinion is neither advanced nor retarded.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a1 modified arrangement for controlling'therelative movement-of the two intermediate gearss'. As

here shown, the arrangement of the driving gears 10,11, 13 and 16,andjtheir supporting links and brackets, is the same as in the preof thegear '11 that gear would be rotated, on lowering theffam- By. I means ofthe cam slot 19the pathof movestationary guide cooperating with theshaft of the gear '13 I employ a movable, cam 20,

to properly proportion the required move- I ment between the two jointsof the articulated connection to maintain the shaft 9 stationary duringthe framing movement.

It will of course be understood that other means may be employed toguide the shift, ing pinions in their proper paths of movement. It willalso be understood that various other modifications may be made in thestructure without departing from the spirit of the invention and thescope of the appended claims.

1 claim:

1. In a framing mechanism for moving picture machines, the combinationof a driving sprocket for the film, an adjustable support for saidsprocket, a driving gear for said sprocket having a fixed axis ofrotation, gears for transmitting the rotation of said fixed gear to saidsprocket, means for maintaining the center of said gears at fixeddistances from each other, and means for. controlling said gearconnection to prevent rotative movement of said sprocket from'themovement of its support. i

2. in a framing mechanism for moving picture machines, the combinationof a feed sprocket for the film, an adjustable support therefor, adriving memberfor actuating said sprocket having a fixed axis ofrotation,

intermediate power transmitting devices be tween said member and saidsprocket for effecting the rotation thereof, means for supporting saidintermediate devices comprising links pivoted to said support and theaxis of said stationary driving member, re-

spectively, and means for controlling said intermediatepower'transmitting devices to maintain said sprocket against rotationfrom the movement of its support.

3. In a framing mechanism for moving picture machines, the combinationofa carriage mounted for adjustment with relation to the film aperture toframe the picture, a feed sprocket supported on said carriage, means foroperating said feed sprocket comprising a gear having a stationary" axisof rotation, a gear on said carriage, a power transmitting connectionbetween said gears comprising a gear mounted for movement independentlyof-saidcarriage and with its axis of rotation maintained at an equaldistance from the axis of said stationary gear,

and means for controlling said power transmitting connection so as toprevent rotation of said sprocket from the movement of said support.

4. In a framing mechanism for moving picture machines, the combinationof a carriage mounted for adjustment with relation to the film apertureto frame the picture, a feed sprocket supported on said carriage, meansfor operating said feed sprocket com prising a gear having a stationaryaxis of rotation, a gear on said carriage, a power transmittingconnection between said gears comprising a gear mounted for movementindependently of said carriage and with its axis of rotation maintainedat an equal distance from the axis of said carriage supported gear, andmeans for controlling said power transmitting connection so as toprevent rotation of said sprocket from the movement of said support.

5. In a framing mechanism for moving picture machines, the combinationof a carriage mounted for adjustment with relation to the film apertureto frame the picture, a feed sprocket supported on said carriage, meansfor operating said feed sprocket comprising a gear having a stationaryaxis of rotation, a gear on said carriage, a power transmittingconnection between said gears comprising a gear mounted for "movementindependently of said carriage both verti-' vent rotation of thesprocket from the movement of its support;

6. In a framing mechanism for moving picture machines, the combinationof a film feeding sprocket, an adjustable support therefor, a gearhaving a stationary shaft for rotating said sprocket, means fortransmitting the movement of said gear to said sprocket comprising aplurality of gears intermediate said gear and said sprocket, means forsupporting said gears for movement independently of said carriage, andmeans for guiding said gears'in their movement so as to prevent rotationof the sprocket from the-movement of its support.

7. In a framing mechanism for moving picture machines, the combinationof a feed sprocket, an adjustable support therefor, a main driving gearhaving a fixed axis of rotation for driving said sprocket, a plu iospictureniachines, the combination of a feed sprocket, an adjustablesupport therefor, a main driving gear having a fixed axis of rotationfor driving said sprocket, a plurality of intermediate gears betweensaid sprocket and said main driving gear, a pivgear being mounted on aswinging support having itsaxis of rotation coincident with the axis ofsaid pinion, connections between said two supportsfor maintaining thegears carried thereby in mesh,and means for con-' trolling the movementof said swinging supports so as to prevent rotative movement of saidsprocket on the movement of its sup ort.

igned at New York city in the county of New York and State ofNew Yorkthis 14 day of October 1918.

, THEODORE F. EMANN.

